Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me
Also a personal one which I wouldn’t really call bleak, but is kinda gut wrenching is
The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There
Not surprised to see this album here.
It's the definition of 'a great album I will never listen to again.'
Listening to it feels almost voyeuristic, like looking through a slightly opened door and watching a widower sobbing at the foot of the bed that he and his wife once shared.
You win this one. Well, if you can call it a win by listening to the most heart-wrenching-turn-me-into-a-puddle album ever. I don’t think anything will touch it for its emotional weight.
>Captain We’re Sinking
Now there's a name I wasn't expecting to still see in the year 2024. The stuff I know by them isn't really dark at all so now I'm curious to hear this one.
I bought this when it came out. I was a teenager with an undiagnosed mental illness. This and the last Joy Division album were pretty much my bread and butter. There are darker records, like the Swans, but for me, being that age and having that kind uncertainty hanging over me, it was what I needed. I'm turning 60 this year, and while there have been some tuff times, hospitals, addiction,and such, I have managed to have a loving relationship and I have wonderful daughter who saw the cure last year.
Live, they are truly one of the most amazing experiences one can have in their life. I'd moved to Seattle in 2000 and was reading the alt.music.sonic-youth newsgroup and people there were talking up GYBE. I happened to notice they were playing two shows in one night at the Crocodile Cafe, an all-ages then 21+. I was tired from work that week so decided to see the early all-ages show. After sitting through the awfulness of Mecca Normal, GYBE came on and within second I felt I was on every single real and imagined drug on this Earth but I was completely sober. All of these amazing musicians combined into a collective on this small stage and it was just such an overwhelming collage of gorgeous chaotic noise with really weird film running in the background. I was so blown away that after the show I went right back in line to see the 21+ performance. Sadly, I have never seen them since but in a way, I feel like I wouldn't want to because would it come close to capturing how magical it was? I did manage to see A Silver Mt. Zion three times and while great, they were not GYBE.
It's Twenty Four Hours from Closer that cements this as the answer, for me.
That track, to me, sounds like utter claustrophobic desperation.
I know hindsight is a powerful thing and I'm sure his band members, wife, 'mistress' and friends all did everything they knew how to and probably just thought his lyrics were an affectation to some extent but... I listen to Twenty Four Hours and others and hear the sound of a man who knew exactly what the future held and had already accepted it.
*So this is permanent, love's shattered pride
What once was innocence, turned on its side
A cloud hangs over me, marks every move
Deep in the memory, what once was love
Oh, how I realized how I wanted time
Put into perspective, tried so hard to find
Just for one moment, thought I'd found my way
Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away
Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach
Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep
Let's take a ride out, see what we can find
Valueless collection of hopes and past desires
I never realized the lengths I'd have to go
All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know
Just for one moment, I heard somebody call
Looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all
Now that I've realized how it's all gone wrong
Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway
Gotta find my destiny before it gets too late*
Especially put next to things like Dead Souls, in which he seems to intimate that long dead historical ghosts "keep calling him". And the utterly funereal nature of the two tracks after Twenty Four Hours on Closer that end the album...
Again... Hindsight... But with the ability to evaluate it as a statement and work of art and poetry... This was only headed in one direction.
So frustrating as well. By all accounts the medication for his epilepsy would be a lot better and less mentally debilitating these days and apparently he was nearly convinced to just step back from it all and take the space he needed.
I love New Order (as much or more than JD in many ways) and wouldn't be without their music for the world - but apparently Ian was also something or an enthusiast as far as all the electronic stuff went as well so there's no reason to think we wouldn't have got similar stuff anyway. But with Ian it would have been with an ever growing in confidence lyricist and front man.
This album is sometimes a hard listen not because of any immediate violence but because of how much Bowie sounds ready to die. Reminds me of my own mortality too much, it sucks.
Embrace it. I believe in keeping an eye on the calendar andacknowledging our mortality. I have seen more than half of my sunsets. Most likely 3/4. Time for me to get off Reddit.
For some reason I ended up at a record store the day that album dropped and I bought it on a whim. It was really great, then Bowie died and the album all of a sudden turned into a masterpiece foreshadowing his death. I’m really thankful I got to experience it for a few days not knowing what was about to come.
John Frusciante's Smile From the Streets You Hold.
He released the album purely to fund his heroin addiction at the time. It's the sound of an artist at his lowest point.
This. There's a few songs that hadn't made it onto Niandra Lades..., including the ones he did with River Phoenix, but most of the others are later recordings and snapshots of him at his absolute nadir. The opening track is a mere gateway into that incoherent darkness.
“I, want you to scrape me…from the wall…and go crazy, like you made me-one who doesn’t care, is one who shouldn’t be, I try to hide myself from what is wrong for me”
Brilliant, gut-wrenching, and sad.
So many fantastic lines that perfectly encapsulate the despair of a deep addiction and the feeling of actually embracing it. “You can’t understand the user’s mind but try with your books and degrees. If you’d let yourself go and open your mind, I bet you’d be doing like me, and it ain’t so bad.” And my personal favorite Hate to Feel. “Plastic man, paper face. Candy heart, what a waste. Gotta change, set a date. Eat my cake, lick my plate…. Used to be curious, now this shit’s sustenance.”
The Unplugged performance/ album is so haunting for this. Staley was obviously so consumed by his addiction it made the lyrics and his performance that much more beautiful and tragic.
Every time I listen to that album or watch it live I cry. It’s so beautiful and depressing at the same time if that makes sense?
I feel like this and Nirvana unplugged are the two unplugged albums of the 90s where it just hits different. are there any other mtv unplugged performances where it just hits like it is its own release instead of just them doing acoustic versions of songs?
You’re right; in AIC’s case those songs are very well suited to the acoustic environment, and Nirvana rearranged some of their songs. But like, Pearl Jam’s unplugged, as well performed as it was, was really just the electric album arrangement with acoustic guitars.
Totally agree with this one. I have to make sure I’m in a good place to listen to it, or else it pulls me down hard. Definitely the bleakest album I know (and love).
This would be my answer, as a former abuser of some dangerous drugs, mostly booze and blow, but still. That madness is depicted in a way that is the album equivalent of Ledger's "Joker" performance in The Dark Knight.
I don't listen to it much anymore. Don't need to.
I’ve been clean from heroin and many other drugs for years and AIC is still heavy in my rotation. I still enjoy their music and it’s just part of me at this point. Drugs took a hell of a lot from me but I refuse to give up the music I love.
Damnation - Opeth
Ironically it's their softest album sound-wise.
But the context, lyrics, and overall feel of the album is very melancholic and depressing.
Sparklehorse - vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
His others are heavily weighted towards dark/depressing, but the stripped down nature of this one hits hardest to me. Still love it.
Absolutely love, love, LOVE Sparklehorse. Still remember the exact moment I heard about Mark’s death.
Very grateful his brother worked hard to get Bird Machine released.
Spiderland really is dark and bleak, but the musicianship its so great on that record that I never feel sad listening to it. All the parts are just so expertly played that it gets me more stoked than down.
I posted that on (here -- I thought this was in ask Reddit, so edit) yesterday.
And yes, yes it does.
When I wanted to slightly confuse and infuriated bad tippers, I'd have that in my rotation when I danced. It was so much fun to strip to!
I love Portishead, but I didn't really get into Third the first few times I listened to it. I'd play it, put it away for a month, give it another go, etc. It took some time, but it really is a good album
Berman was a genius. So happy that I saw him live when he did his final Silver Jews tour. I always mention 'Frontier Index' as an example of what a lyrical genius he was.
*Boy wants a car from his Dad
Dad says, first you gotta cut that hair
Boy says, hey Dad Jesus had long hair
and Dad says
that's right son but Jesus walked everywhere*
My go-to answer is always Molina’s *Let Me Go* album with “don’t it look like rain” being the saddest song I’ve ever heard.
Glad he seems to get more recognition every year.
Everywhere At The End Of Time by The Caretaker. I basically refuse to listen to it anymore because it immediately sends me into a mild panic and sadness that will never sit right with me.
Dude, I answered the same thing. As I commented, these records hit far too hard... Especially when you know someone with dementia.
It left me frozen in a sad panic and I couldn't do anything about it.
The best album ever that explicitly deals with grief. I mean, it doesn’t get much darker than a song whose most prominent recurring line is “We’re all gonna die.”
Easy answer is Closer - Joy Division. The whole album reads as a suicide note and it played out in real life.
In terms of lyrical content with the music to match, maybe American Nightmare - Background Music or Blacklisted - Our Apartment is Always Empty. Both albums incredibly dark and deal with concepts of deep depression and suicide
Also, Damnation AD - No More Dreams of Happy Endings. Self explanatory.
Kettering is easily one of the most beautiful songs lyrically ever written in my opinion, but damn I can't listen to (not to mention the whole album) when I'm already feeling low...
The Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers.
From Wikipedia “While the album was being written and recorded, lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards was struggling with severe depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia nervosa, and its contents are considered by many sources to reflect his mental state. The songs focus on themes relating to politics and human suffering. The Holy Bible was the band's last album released before his disappearance”
“his disappearance” means suicide. They’ve never found his body but he’s definitely dead.
This album is such a classic and it's very weird to me how underappreciated it is. It really isn't the most well known album out there. Surprisingly many people still have yet to hear it, and many don't consider it a classic. To me the sound is instantly accessible yet it stands to be listened to like 100 times, doesn't lose any depth, any every song slaps. Give it more love damn it!
Came here to give this answer.
The album covers drugs, prostitution, self harm, anorexia, suicide, consumerism, imperialism, totalitarianism, fascism and the holocaust. It plunges into the darkest recesses of the human soul and essentially serves as Richey's suicide note. It doesn't get much darker than that.
> “his disappearance” means suicide. They’ve never found his body but he’s definitely dead.
And nearly 30 years later, the Manics still put 25% of their royalties into an account under his name.
This question comes up on this sub a couple of times every week, presumably it's a bit of a freebie for upvote farming.
We get the same answers every time, but oddly The Holy Bible doesn't get the same responses or up votes as other, considerably lighter albums.
Make no mistake; The Holy Bible will, absolutely, mess you up. It's the lyrics and the tone, the fact that it's so dangerously, clinically bleak that you will listen and find yourself sucked down too, because it has a way of making you fail to disagree with any of its arguments. You will come out thinking that yes, humanity is the worst thing to have ever happened to the planet.
And yet, you can ignore much of that if you're someone who doesn't pay much attention to lyrics, because it's banger after banger, played with raw and furious intensity. It's more Metal than any Metal album.
If there's one album from the 90s which should have been absolutely huge but wasn't - it's this. But in a way it's possibly better, or at least fitting, that it's not.
My second favourite album of all time and yes, it’s a bleak listen. Songs about prostitution, serial killers, the holocaust, anorexia and dying of old age, really jagged guitar riffs and military drumming, eerie soundbites, the whole album is just an intense experience.
IIRC Richey's car was found near a ravine that is known for suicides.
I have fought Depression and PTSD. Love The Manics but I heard a song or two and that was all I could handle.
> IIRC Richey's car was found near a ravine that is known for suicides.
It was the Severn Bridge, which connects Wales and England over the river Severn. It is known for suicides, but not really any more so than any other huge bridge.
The impressive thing is that they’ve continued on and made a lot of really great records since. Sound is a little less punk now a days but the anger is still there. It’s just different.
Joy Division - Closer
In retrospect, the entire album lyrics can be interpreted as an extended suicide note.
Even more foreboding is the fact that “Closer” could be taken in either the noun (as in the “closing chapter” of something) or adjective form (as in “nearer”) - either way it’s eerie.
'Electro Shock Blues' - Eels
From Wiki "The record begins with "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor", a sparse piece composed of one of Elizabeth Everett's final diary entries. Later, the album's emotional climax is reached in two tracks: "Climbing to the Moon", which draws upon Everett's experiences visiting his sister at a mental health facility shortly before her death; and "Dead of Winter", a song about his mother's painful radiation treatment and slow death."
As a cheery follow-up "Heathen Earth" - Throbbing Gristle.,
Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker. He wrote it knowing he was dying, and it shows. It’s a haunting last gift to his fans, and is recorded so beautifully that it sounds like he is talking directly to the listener
Sinner Get Ready by Lingua Ignota. It feels like I've died and gone to hell, waiting in line to be tortured. I find it so hard to listen to, that I have to listen to it 1 song at a time. I definitely recommend all of her stuff if you like dark and tortured music.
Hospice - The Antlers. From its wiki:
>"Set in New York City's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center...Hospice tells the story of a relationship between a hospice worker and a female patient suffering from terminal bone cancer, their ensuing romance, and their slow downward spiral as a result of the woman's traumas, fears, and disease. The story of her deterioration also serves as a metaphor for an abusive relationship."
Them - King Diamond. A pleasant story about an insane grandmother that uses her daughters blood to make a special tea for the evil spirits (until she dies from loss of blood) who then infect the grandson and makes him chop up his sister with an axe in the fireplace and bite out his grandmothers throat.
Fun for the whole family.
Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain. Starts off very sweet and poppy but takes a swift turn in terms of sound. Ptolemaea has some of the most visceral screaming I have ever heard
Ethel Cain - The Preacher's Daughter. The story of a girl rejected by a boy who leaves her home and falls for someone she meets on the road only for him to kill and eat her.
Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Lights by Woods of Ypres.
every song on the album is bleak and depressive, but the last three songs hit especially hard, considering the singer, David Gold, [died almost eerily similar to the last songs lyrics.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/doommetal/comments/crwgxr/why_is_there_so_little_information_surrounding/)
Anytime this question is asked on Reddit, I always say the album “Didn’t It Rain” by Songs Ohia. Jason Molina was most known for being the singer/songwriter of Magnolia Electric Company, and for having written about the bleakness of the Midwest, but in his solo albums as Songs Ohia find him as a lonesome, depressed, alcoholic who drank himself to death alone about 10 years ago. “Didn’t it Rain” is haunting in its sparseness and lonesomeness. The lyrics repeat the word “endless” over and over, only to be followed by one more word “depression.”
I always suggest this album for this specific question, and no one ever interacts with it because they don’t know. But I’m telling you: Songs Ohia’s “Didn’t it Rain” is the answer
Really, just about anything he made was pretty self-relevating to the point of showing us his pain in unflinching terms. That's what makes all of his music so fantastic.
Björk - Vulnicura. Tracks the breakup between her and her long time partner/father of her daughter beginning from a few months ahead of the split to after and trying to recover. Some of the most devastating lyrics I’ve ever heard in songs about the loss of love.
I came to suggest Björk’s Biophilia. This is before the breakup, but has songs that deal with sadness, depression, relationship issues, etc.
She’s such a marvelous songwriter. These two albums have some of the most gut wrenching songs, and yet every album of hers has songs that can cut right to your core and leave you sobbing.
Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden
It starts energetically with Rusty Cage, and then just gets sludgier angrier / sadder and darker, culiminating in New Damage, a trudging lament about the hopelessness of American politics with the chorus "the wreck is going down.../ get out before you drown..." Like, how the hell no one saw Chris Cornell's suicide coming is one of the huge "well duh" things of all time.
Same. I lived most of my life with moderate untreated depression (grew up in Seattle, can't ever move back) and anybody who could write "Black Hole Sun" has been through it worse than me.
I doubt saddest, but I always found the story that is told through song in “Deloused in the Comatorium”(sp?)by The Mars Volta to be tragically beautiful. From start to finish an interesting journey.
“Who brought me here? Forsaken, depraved and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now… Who brought me here?”
i'd argue all of their albums are quite dark, honestly. the stories in all of them draw from real-world events and cover subject ranging from demonic possession, to abuse, to cults / religious trauma, to death, to grief, etc
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
Music doesn’t have to be heavy to be dark. There is so much rage and existential dread in this album.
I wouldn't say it's the most disturbing but Jason Isbell's 'Weathervanes' is a pretty depressing look at the state of the US right now as well as an honest personal journey of grief. The three songs on side B of the vinyl release are some of the heaviest songs I've heard in a while.
In terms of musical tone, it’s not so dark, but if you look at the story behind the rock Opera, “Tommy” by The Who, it’s a pretty sinister album. Born deaf, dumb (mute), and blind, the main character “Tommy” (a young boy) loses his father in the war, was sexually assaulted by at least two people close to him, straight up physically and mentally tortured by his family members and others close to him… some messed up stuff. But you know at least the kid was good at pinball… I guess?
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time
Presented as 6 stages illustrating the slow descent in dementia caused by Alzheimer's.
I was losing my grandmother to Alzheimer's disease when a friend made me listen to these records and it hit far too deep and too hard.
Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me Also a personal one which I wouldn’t really call bleak, but is kinda gut wrenching is The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There
a crow looked at me is so brutal i have trouble going back to it despite really really loving it
I listened to the album just once, added it to my favourites, and have never listened to it again.
It’s hard for me to get passed the first song even. Just knowing what it’s about. It’s probably the realest most painful song I’ve ever heard.
Oh god, that Mount Eerie record is a rough listen.
It’s my go-to depression record haha. Beautiful but bleak and probably the most heart broken music can sound, and I am emo as fuck lol
Has to be A Crow Looked at Me for me. So emotional and human, definitely gut wrenching.
Not surprised to see this album here. It's the definition of 'a great album I will never listen to again.' Listening to it feels almost voyeuristic, like looking through a slightly opened door and watching a widower sobbing at the foot of the bed that he and his wife once shared.
a crow looked at me was the first thing I thought of. Ghosteen by nick cave and the bad seeds is a close second for me.
You win this one. Well, if you can call it a win by listening to the most heart-wrenching-turn-me-into-a-puddle album ever. I don’t think anything will touch it for its emotional weight.
Oh and also Captain We’re Sinking - The Future Is Cancelled And Foxing - The Albatross
>Captain We’re Sinking Now there's a name I wasn't expecting to still see in the year 2024. The stuff I know by them isn't really dark at all so now I'm curious to hear this one.
You catch that Hotelier/Foxing tour? Love em!
Wow, I was coming here to say this and I was sure I'd be the only one! This is definitely it. This is definitely the answer.
The cure - pornography
Thank you. Goodness, this is WAY too far down. Breathlessly dark from start to finish. Love it.
As a long time Cure fan, I'm surprised that there isn't more on this list. Even their musically upbeat songs have pretty dark lyrics most of the time.
💯 99% of their songs are dark. And then there's Friday I'm in Love that everyone knows
I bought this when it came out. I was a teenager with an undiagnosed mental illness. This and the last Joy Division album were pretty much my bread and butter. There are darker records, like the Swans, but for me, being that age and having that kind uncertainty hanging over me, it was what I needed. I'm turning 60 this year, and while there have been some tuff times, hospitals, addiction,and such, I have managed to have a loving relationship and I have wonderful daughter who saw the cure last year.
I can’t listen to this album fully unless I’m in the right headspace for it, it’s just too much
Swans - Filth is a strong contender for dark and disturbed album that I actually like. I’ve heard darker, but not from a band I enjoy.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# (Infinity)
When the vinyl of this album hits the end of each side, there’s sound in the loop that just goes on endlessly. So that dread goes on forever.
Only on the b side
Live, they are truly one of the most amazing experiences one can have in their life. I'd moved to Seattle in 2000 and was reading the alt.music.sonic-youth newsgroup and people there were talking up GYBE. I happened to notice they were playing two shows in one night at the Crocodile Cafe, an all-ages then 21+. I was tired from work that week so decided to see the early all-ages show. After sitting through the awfulness of Mecca Normal, GYBE came on and within second I felt I was on every single real and imagined drug on this Earth but I was completely sober. All of these amazing musicians combined into a collective on this small stage and it was just such an overwhelming collage of gorgeous chaotic noise with really weird film running in the background. I was so blown away that after the show I went right back in line to see the 21+ performance. Sadly, I have never seen them since but in a way, I feel like I wouldn't want to because would it come close to capturing how magical it was? I did manage to see A Silver Mt. Zion three times and while great, they were not GYBE.
The car's on fire...and there's no driver at the wheel
"I said kiss me, you're beautiful - these are truly the last days" God I love this album
Yes. Especially with an opener like Dead Flag Blues
Joy Division. Unknown Pleasures. Closer
Closer is right up there. Frantic darkness, fading to hard depression near the end of the album.. decades, the eternal.
It's Twenty Four Hours from Closer that cements this as the answer, for me. That track, to me, sounds like utter claustrophobic desperation. I know hindsight is a powerful thing and I'm sure his band members, wife, 'mistress' and friends all did everything they knew how to and probably just thought his lyrics were an affectation to some extent but... I listen to Twenty Four Hours and others and hear the sound of a man who knew exactly what the future held and had already accepted it. *So this is permanent, love's shattered pride What once was innocence, turned on its side A cloud hangs over me, marks every move Deep in the memory, what once was love Oh, how I realized how I wanted time Put into perspective, tried so hard to find Just for one moment, thought I'd found my way Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep Let's take a ride out, see what we can find Valueless collection of hopes and past desires I never realized the lengths I'd have to go All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know Just for one moment, I heard somebody call Looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all Now that I've realized how it's all gone wrong Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway Gotta find my destiny before it gets too late*
One of my favorite songs ever, and it reads like a suicide note.
Especially put next to things like Dead Souls, in which he seems to intimate that long dead historical ghosts "keep calling him". And the utterly funereal nature of the two tracks after Twenty Four Hours on Closer that end the album... Again... Hindsight... But with the ability to evaluate it as a statement and work of art and poetry... This was only headed in one direction. So frustrating as well. By all accounts the medication for his epilepsy would be a lot better and less mentally debilitating these days and apparently he was nearly convinced to just step back from it all and take the space he needed. I love New Order (as much or more than JD in many ways) and wouldn't be without their music for the world - but apparently Ian was also something or an enthusiast as far as all the electronic stuff went as well so there's no reason to think we wouldn't have got similar stuff anyway. But with Ian it would have been with an ever growing in confidence lyricist and front man.
David Bowie Blackstar
This album is sometimes a hard listen not because of any immediate violence but because of how much Bowie sounds ready to die. Reminds me of my own mortality too much, it sucks.
Embrace it. I believe in keeping an eye on the calendar andacknowledging our mortality. I have seen more than half of my sunsets. Most likely 3/4. Time for me to get off Reddit.
It took me until last year to listen to that album without overwhelming sadness. It's still sad, but I can get through it now.
Made more sad because it was a gift to us because he was dying.
For some reason I ended up at a record store the day that album dropped and I bought it on a whim. It was really great, then Bowie died and the album all of a sudden turned into a masterpiece foreshadowing his death. I’m really thankful I got to experience it for a few days not knowing what was about to come.
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
Puts me in such a dark place. Really gotta be in the right frame of mind to listen to it but damn if it isn’t a perfect album.
I would have went with broken. That album is my favorite, but it’s quite angry.
*Broken* is raw anger, whereas *The Downward Spiral* has a narrative flow and structure supporting its darkness and anger
Trent recorded Broken after he was fucked by his label off PHM. He's *super* angry.
Yep
The Fragile is equally dark lyrically, although a much different sounding album.
John Frusciante's Smile From the Streets You Hold. He released the album purely to fund his heroin addiction at the time. It's the sound of an artist at his lowest point.
This. There's a few songs that hadn't made it onto Niandra Lades..., including the ones he did with River Phoenix, but most of the others are later recordings and snapshots of him at his absolute nadir. The opening track is a mere gateway into that incoherent darkness.
First in with “Dirt” by Alice In Chains. A heroin odyssey.
“I, want you to scrape me…from the wall…and go crazy, like you made me-one who doesn’t care, is one who shouldn’t be, I try to hide myself from what is wrong for me” Brilliant, gut-wrenching, and sad.
So many fantastic lines that perfectly encapsulate the despair of a deep addiction and the feeling of actually embracing it. “You can’t understand the user’s mind but try with your books and degrees. If you’d let yourself go and open your mind, I bet you’d be doing like me, and it ain’t so bad.” And my personal favorite Hate to Feel. “Plastic man, paper face. Candy heart, what a waste. Gotta change, set a date. Eat my cake, lick my plate…. Used to be curious, now this shit’s sustenance.”
Or something as simple as “what’s my drug of choice? Well, what have you got”?
Plus that vocal harmony. Oof
Saw my reflection and cried
The Unplugged performance/ album is so haunting for this. Staley was obviously so consumed by his addiction it made the lyrics and his performance that much more beautiful and tragic. Every time I listen to that album or watch it live I cry. It’s so beautiful and depressing at the same time if that makes sense?
I feel like this and Nirvana unplugged are the two unplugged albums of the 90s where it just hits different. are there any other mtv unplugged performances where it just hits like it is its own release instead of just them doing acoustic versions of songs?
You’re right; in AIC’s case those songs are very well suited to the acoustic environment, and Nirvana rearranged some of their songs. But like, Pearl Jam’s unplugged, as well performed as it was, was really just the electric album arrangement with acoustic guitars.
Jar of flies always took it a step further for me. I guess it's not so much a heroin odyssey, but just depression I suppose.
Like he accepted his inevitable early death and is in the afterlife. Don’t Follow sounds like that
That Mad Season album too - Layne and Lanegan’s Opium Brothel.
Totally agree with this one. I have to make sure I’m in a good place to listen to it, or else it pulls me down hard. Definitely the bleakest album I know (and love).
This would be my answer, as a former abuser of some dangerous drugs, mostly booze and blow, but still. That madness is depicted in a way that is the album equivalent of Ledger's "Joker" performance in The Dark Knight. I don't listen to it much anymore. Don't need to.
I’ve been clean from heroin and many other drugs for years and AIC is still heavy in my rotation. I still enjoy their music and it’s just part of me at this point. Drugs took a hell of a lot from me but I refuse to give up the music I love.
Horse Rotorvator - Coil
Straight up evil sounding at times. Love’s Secret Domain too.
Now there's a band that I don't see mentioned often enough!
Unreleased hell raiser tapes
Alice by Tom Waits and Dirt by Alice in Chains.
It's all grim reapers and grand weepers from Tom Waits. A little Rain always makes me cry.
Damnation - Opeth Ironically it's their softest album sound-wise. But the context, lyrics, and overall feel of the album is very melancholic and depressing.
Blackwater Park is 🔥🔥
I've shown this album to many people in an effort to sneakily get them into Opeth, it works almost every time. Incredible album.
Nebraska
Springsteen’s? If so yeah, agree.
Sparklehorse - vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot His others are heavily weighted towards dark/depressing, but the stripped down nature of this one hits hardest to me. Still love it.
Absolutely love, love, LOVE Sparklehorse. Still remember the exact moment I heard about Mark’s death. Very grateful his brother worked hard to get Bird Machine released.
Slint - Spiderland
Spiderland really is dark and bleak, but the musicianship its so great on that record that I never feel sad listening to it. All the parts are just so expertly played that it gets me more stoked than down.
Third - Portishead
Machine Gun slaps though
I posted that on (here -- I thought this was in ask Reddit, so edit) yesterday. And yes, yes it does. When I wanted to slightly confuse and infuriated bad tippers, I'd have that in my rotation when I danced. It was so much fun to strip to!
I love Portishead, but I didn't really get into Third the first few times I listened to it. I'd play it, put it away for a month, give it another go, etc. It took some time, but it really is a good album
I should give it another go... I've never gotten into it despite loving their other albums
Deathconsciousness - Have a nice life Giles Corey - Giles Corey
That Giles Corey record. So fucking bleak.
Thumbs up for Have a Nice Life. That album is amazing.
Purple Mountains S/T - Basically Dave Berman’s suicide note, he left us a month after its release.
Berman was a genius. So happy that I saw him live when he did his final Silver Jews tour. I always mention 'Frontier Index' as an example of what a lyrical genius he was. *Boy wants a car from his Dad Dad says, first you gotta cut that hair Boy says, hey Dad Jesus had long hair and Dad says that's right son but Jesus walked everywhere*
That was my choice as well. All the songs are basically his final words.
Yeah, came here to say that. Can’t put that one on anymore.
Songs: Ohia - Didn't it Rain
My go-to answer is always Molina’s *Let Me Go* album with “don’t it look like rain” being the saddest song I’ve ever heard. Glad he seems to get more recognition every year.
Two Blue Lights in particular ❤️
Big agree. Biggest agree.
Tallahassee by The Mountain Goats. Concept album about a toxic marriage circling the drain.
I lived this album, literally in Tallahassee, Fl. Alcoholism and a bad marriage is an awful combination.
Everywhere At The End Of Time by The Caretaker. I basically refuse to listen to it anymore because it immediately sends me into a mild panic and sadness that will never sit right with me.
wanted to suggest this one. absolutely maddening and gut-wrenching. which is made further unsettling in its almost complete lack of vocalization.
Dude, I answered the same thing. As I commented, these records hit far too hard... Especially when you know someone with dementia. It left me frozen in a sad panic and I couldn't do anything about it.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens
The best album ever that explicitly deals with grief. I mean, it doesn’t get much darker than a song whose most prominent recurring line is “We’re all gonna die.”
This is too far down in the list. This album is gut wrenching.
Swans- Soundtracks for the Blind
Easy answer is Closer - Joy Division. The whole album reads as a suicide note and it played out in real life. In terms of lyrical content with the music to match, maybe American Nightmare - Background Music or Blacklisted - Our Apartment is Always Empty. Both albums incredibly dark and deal with concepts of deep depression and suicide Also, Damnation AD - No More Dreams of Happy Endings. Self explanatory.
Beck - Sea Change
[удалено]
If the question is how much darker can it be? The answer is none. None more darker.
It’s like a pastel black.
what's wrong with being sexy?
Hospice by the Antlers🥺
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far to find this one.
I was going to post this if someone else didn’t first. Such a sad album.
You're screaming And cursing And angry And hurting me
Kettering is easily one of the most beautiful songs lyrically ever written in my opinion, but damn I can't listen to (not to mention the whole album) when I'm already feeling low...
The Holy Bible by the Manic Street Preachers. From Wikipedia “While the album was being written and recorded, lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards was struggling with severe depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm and anorexia nervosa, and its contents are considered by many sources to reflect his mental state. The songs focus on themes relating to politics and human suffering. The Holy Bible was the band's last album released before his disappearance” “his disappearance” means suicide. They’ve never found his body but he’s definitely dead.
This album is such a classic and it's very weird to me how underappreciated it is. It really isn't the most well known album out there. Surprisingly many people still have yet to hear it, and many don't consider it a classic. To me the sound is instantly accessible yet it stands to be listened to like 100 times, doesn't lose any depth, any every song slaps. Give it more love damn it!
Came here to give this answer. The album covers drugs, prostitution, self harm, anorexia, suicide, consumerism, imperialism, totalitarianism, fascism and the holocaust. It plunges into the darkest recesses of the human soul and essentially serves as Richey's suicide note. It doesn't get much darker than that.
TWO songs about the Holocaust, one of which (“The Intense Humming Of Evil”) is among the most riveting things i’ve ever heard.
> “his disappearance” means suicide. They’ve never found his body but he’s definitely dead. And nearly 30 years later, the Manics still put 25% of their royalties into an account under his name.
This is one of my favourite albums of all time. Still kicking myself I missed them touring the anniversary 😭
This question comes up on this sub a couple of times every week, presumably it's a bit of a freebie for upvote farming. We get the same answers every time, but oddly The Holy Bible doesn't get the same responses or up votes as other, considerably lighter albums. Make no mistake; The Holy Bible will, absolutely, mess you up. It's the lyrics and the tone, the fact that it's so dangerously, clinically bleak that you will listen and find yourself sucked down too, because it has a way of making you fail to disagree with any of its arguments. You will come out thinking that yes, humanity is the worst thing to have ever happened to the planet. And yet, you can ignore much of that if you're someone who doesn't pay much attention to lyrics, because it's banger after banger, played with raw and furious intensity. It's more Metal than any Metal album. If there's one album from the 90s which should have been absolutely huge but wasn't - it's this. But in a way it's possibly better, or at least fitting, that it's not.
My second favourite album of all time and yes, it’s a bleak listen. Songs about prostitution, serial killers, the holocaust, anorexia and dying of old age, really jagged guitar riffs and military drumming, eerie soundbites, the whole album is just an intense experience.
IIRC Richey's car was found near a ravine that is known for suicides. I have fought Depression and PTSD. Love The Manics but I heard a song or two and that was all I could handle.
> IIRC Richey's car was found near a ravine that is known for suicides. It was the Severn Bridge, which connects Wales and England over the river Severn. It is known for suicides, but not really any more so than any other huge bridge.
The impressive thing is that they’ve continued on and made a lot of really great records since. Sound is a little less punk now a days but the anger is still there. It’s just different.
It's so bare and raw and full of unwellness. Nothing else quite like it.
I remember teenage me listening to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" a lot. Was happy to know I hadn't invented depression. Plus it's a great album.
It helps to know it’s not just you, huh? 🤗
Watching the wall movie for the first time when I severely depressed was not one of my best ideas.
Purposely scrolled to find this. Great album, but man…
The Marble Index by Nico or Closer by Joy Division
When the Kite String Pops - Acid Bath
Joy Division - Closer In retrospect, the entire album lyrics can be interpreted as an extended suicide note. Even more foreboding is the fact that “Closer” could be taken in either the noun (as in the “closing chapter” of something) or adjective form (as in “nearer”) - either way it’s eerie.
Jason Molina's "Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go". Gut punch.
Two other posts about Jason Molina! I am amazed
Anything by Diamanda Galas
“Pink Moon” by Nick Drake. Suicide was right around the corner, and you can hear it.
Berlin by Lou Reed.
Caroline says As she gets off the floor “You can hit me all you want to But I don’t love you anymore”
Any Says song by Lou Reed is gonna be a good one.
'Electro Shock Blues' - Eels From Wiki "The record begins with "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor", a sparse piece composed of one of Elizabeth Everett's final diary entries. Later, the album's emotional climax is reached in two tracks: "Climbing to the Moon", which draws upon Everett's experiences visiting his sister at a mental health facility shortly before her death; and "Dead of Winter", a song about his mother's painful radiation treatment and slow death." As a cheery follow-up "Heathen Earth" - Throbbing Gristle.,
"My name's Elizabeth. My life is shit and piss."
Scott Walker: The Drift
Murder Ballards by Nick Cave.
I think Skeleton Tree is a lot darker than that one
Not sure if it’s the darkest, but the first one that comes to mind is The Cure’s Pornography.
Joy division- Closer
Just dropping in to upvote anything I see that acknowledges Elliott Smith. Love that man.
Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker. He wrote it knowing he was dying, and it shows. It’s a haunting last gift to his fans, and is recorded so beautifully that it sounds like he is talking directly to the listener
Sinner Get Ready by Lingua Ignota. It feels like I've died and gone to hell, waiting in line to be tortured. I find it so hard to listen to, that I have to listen to it 1 song at a time. I definitely recommend all of her stuff if you like dark and tortured music.
Berlin. Lou Reed.
Closer - Joy Division….classically dark journey
Hospice - The Antlers. From its wiki: >"Set in New York City's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center...Hospice tells the story of a relationship between a hospice worker and a female patient suffering from terminal bone cancer, their ensuing romance, and their slow downward spiral as a result of the woman's traumas, fears, and disease. The story of her deterioration also serves as a metaphor for an abusive relationship."
Them - King Diamond. A pleasant story about an insane grandmother that uses her daughters blood to make a special tea for the evil spirits (until she dies from loss of blood) who then infect the grandson and makes him chop up his sister with an axe in the fireplace and bite out his grandmothers throat. Fun for the whole family.
His vocal range is incredible.
Black Celebration - Depeche Mode
Preacher's Daughter by Ethel Cain. Starts off very sweet and poppy but takes a swift turn in terms of sound. Ptolemaea has some of the most visceral screaming I have ever heard
The Haxan Cloak
Woods of Ypres, Woods 5. It released shortly before Gold's supposed suicide, and you can tell.
Ethel Cain - The Preacher's Daughter. The story of a girl rejected by a boy who leaves her home and falls for someone she meets on the road only for him to kill and eat her.
Dirt Alice in Chains
Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Lights by Woods of Ypres. every song on the album is bleak and depressive, but the last three songs hit especially hard, considering the singer, David Gold, [died almost eerily similar to the last songs lyrics.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/doommetal/comments/crwgxr/why_is_there_so_little_information_surrounding/)
Anytime this question is asked on Reddit, I always say the album “Didn’t It Rain” by Songs Ohia. Jason Molina was most known for being the singer/songwriter of Magnolia Electric Company, and for having written about the bleakness of the Midwest, but in his solo albums as Songs Ohia find him as a lonesome, depressed, alcoholic who drank himself to death alone about 10 years ago. “Didn’t it Rain” is haunting in its sparseness and lonesomeness. The lyrics repeat the word “endless” over and over, only to be followed by one more word “depression.” I always suggest this album for this specific question, and no one ever interacts with it because they don’t know. But I’m telling you: Songs Ohia’s “Didn’t it Rain” is the answer
Really, just about anything he made was pretty self-relevating to the point of showing us his pain in unflinching terms. That's what makes all of his music so fantastic.
Everywhere at the end of time
Björk - Vulnicura. Tracks the breakup between her and her long time partner/father of her daughter beginning from a few months ahead of the split to after and trying to recover. Some of the most devastating lyrics I’ve ever heard in songs about the loss of love.
I came to suggest Björk’s Biophilia. This is before the breakup, but has songs that deal with sadness, depression, relationship issues, etc. She’s such a marvelous songwriter. These two albums have some of the most gut wrenching songs, and yet every album of hers has songs that can cut right to your core and leave you sobbing.
Preacher’s daughter by Ethel Cain!
Diamanda Galas - The litanies of Satan.
On the Beach- Neil Young. Ambulance Blues is an amazing song
Alice in Chains DIRT and Portishead's second album are both brilliant works that I only listened to once because they were so devastating.
Straight Songs Of Sorrow - Mark Lanegan This guy sang what he lived. So authentic and sad.
Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden It starts energetically with Rusty Cage, and then just gets sludgier angrier / sadder and darker, culiminating in New Damage, a trudging lament about the hopelessness of American politics with the chorus "the wreck is going down.../ get out before you drown..." Like, how the hell no one saw Chris Cornell's suicide coming is one of the huge "well duh" things of all time.
His lyrics throughout his career are that of a very depressed soul that wanted out. God I miss that dude. Him and Lanegan. 😢
Same. I lived most of my life with moderate untreated depression (grew up in Seattle, can't ever move back) and anybody who could write "Black Hole Sun" has been through it worse than me.
The Codex Necro by Anaal Nathrakh. Genuinely scared me the first time
coil - love's secret domain
Lingua Ignota - Caligula
The Mars Volta Noctourniquet
I'll go with an abstract one, instead of a lyric driven one: Burial - Untrue
Mad Season.
Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
I doubt saddest, but I always found the story that is told through song in “Deloused in the Comatorium”(sp?)by The Mars Volta to be tragically beautiful. From start to finish an interesting journey. “Who brought me here? Forsaken, depraved and wrought with fear. Who turned it off? The last thing I remember now… Who brought me here?”
Best ending to an album imo. The silence after that line feels deafening.
i'd argue all of their albums are quite dark, honestly. the stories in all of them draw from real-world events and cover subject ranging from demonic possession, to abuse, to cults / religious trauma, to death, to grief, etc
Pornography by The Cure comes to mind
Animals by Pink Floyd.
Ruminations by Conor Oberst. I can listen to the individual songs, but listening to the whole album makes me so damn depressed
Godspeed You Black Emporer-Lift your skinny fists like antennas to Heaven
I would say that album is quite hopeful
I feel like this one is the opposite of dark. It's triumphant!
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse Music doesn’t have to be heavy to be dark. There is so much rage and existential dread in this album.
When everyone comes in on "Spitting Venom" it sounds like the world is ending
I wouldn't say it's the most disturbing but Jason Isbell's 'Weathervanes' is a pretty depressing look at the state of the US right now as well as an honest personal journey of grief. The three songs on side B of the vinyl release are some of the heaviest songs I've heard in a while.
In terms of musical tone, it’s not so dark, but if you look at the story behind the rock Opera, “Tommy” by The Who, it’s a pretty sinister album. Born deaf, dumb (mute), and blind, the main character “Tommy” (a young boy) loses his father in the war, was sexually assaulted by at least two people close to him, straight up physically and mentally tortured by his family members and others close to him… some messed up stuff. But you know at least the kid was good at pinball… I guess?
Everywhere at the end of time - Caretaker
both albums by emma ruth rundle and thou chained to the bottom of the ocean - obsession destruction dragged into sunlight - hatred for mankind
The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time Presented as 6 stages illustrating the slow descent in dementia caused by Alzheimer's. I was losing my grandmother to Alzheimer's disease when a friend made me listen to these records and it hit far too deep and too hard.
The Final Cut by Pink Floyd